Increasing customer reviews on Google

Hello guys, I am not sure what the appropriate board for such a question is. I am in the process of building a product targeted at dentists and other small business owners and wanted to see if the idea had teeth (sorry for the pun )

The idea is this : many dentists use calendars on Google or iCal to schedule appointments with their patients. My tool will send an automated email to each of your patients after a session to ask for their feedback. Something along the lines of 'hello, thank you for visiting our clinic today. Are you happy with how your session went today?' - if the patient is happy, then my tool will offer a friendly nudge to review your business on Google or Yelp. On the other hand, if they are not happy, we could share a survey form that they can fill that will tell you what went wrong.

The objective is two-fold : 1) Maximize the number of positive reviews on Google, and 2) Understand what is making certain patients unhappy.

What do you think of such a service? Is this something you would pay for? Thank you very much.

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I'd be interested to know what the follow-through rate would be. As i'm sure you're aware the number of people who actually leave reviews in comparison to how many people have used a service is very low, unless they've had a terrifically bad/good experience.

Would you be able to include something like a 5% discount code in the email that could incentivize people to leave the review?

I actually work for a dental marketing company that fields questions like that one quite often, and your idea is sound on the base of it. Google really really likes to utilize their "own" data when they rank websites, so having more positive Google reviews than the other guy can often be the difference between sitting at the top of search and bumming around in the middle. However, there are two very important caveats to remember:

1: You can NEVER EVER pay for reviews, even if there's a sort of middleman or trade going on. If Google finds out you've done this they will hit the business that did so with a severe penalty. This can be devastating in markets that rely heavily on word-of-mouth, like one where people trust you to stick a bunch of pointy things in their mouths

2: Make sure that you don't leave yourself open for accumulating negative reviews. Having a frank and honest Google review profile is very good, even if that means that you don't have a perfect 5-star rating. However, if you do not respond to negative reviews, they can start to scare away potential searching customers. I bring this up because if you completely automate the process, dentists might forget that they have reviews stacking up that could hurt their business.

As long as you keep these two points in mind, an automated reminder for Google reviews is actually a very good idea. I know that we have had clients be very successful in their search markets because of a strong Google review presence, and it is one of the things we always try to push at meetings. I wish you the best of luck with your project!

Hello guys, I am not sure what the appropriate board for such a question is. I am in the process of building a product targeted at dentists and other small business owners and wanted to see if the idea had teeth (sorry for the pun )

The idea is this : many dentists use calendars on Google or iCal to schedule appointments with their patients. My tool will send an automated email to each of your patients after a session to ask for their feedback. Something along the lines of 'hello, thank you for visiting our clinic today. Are you happy with how your session went today?' - if the patient is happy, then my tool will offer a friendly nudge to review your business on Google or Yelp. On the other hand, if they are not happy, we could share a survey form that they can fill that will tell you what went wrong.

The objective is two-fold : 1) Maximize the number of positive reviews on Google, and 2) Understand what is making certain patients unhappy.

What do you think of such a service? Is this something you would pay for? Thank you very much.

Click to expand...

Hi anond,

I have found the best way to gain reviews where they matter the most (Google, Yelp, etc.) is to use a system that integrates into the practice's management software (Dentrix, Eagle Soft, etc.), here is how it works:

The patient checks out of the office (this can be done on check in as well)

The front desk (or staff during the exam) lets the patient know that they will be receiving an email from them shortly after they leave, asking for feedback about the visit.

When the patient leaves the system automatically sends an email or text asking them for the feedback. The message simply says thanks, and asks the question would you recommend us.

If the patient clicks yes, it takes them to a screen that asks them where they would like to leave their review (an option of Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.), they pick and leave the review. What is cool is that the software can detect on a mobile device if they have a Google, Yelp or Facebook app on their phone and will suggest the review go to whatever app they have, to make it as easy as possible to leave the review.

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